Dr. Laura Jung is the principal researcher for Subproject 2, within Research Unit 1. She is examining the technological and scientific framework that enables the elasticity of the EU’s external border.

Dr. Jung's research interests center on the interactions between science, technology, and medicine with political orders, with expertise in critical international relations and theories of sovereignty, race, and disability. In her dissertation, Traumatic, neurotic, hysterical: the psychiatric production of sovereign German order, 1871-1969, she analyzed how scientific knowledge and medical expertise inscribed particular versions of political subjectivity, contouring national collectives on the basis of specific attributes of “the psyche” or “the soul.” A monograph based on the dissertation is currently under preparation.

In 2024/25, Dr. Jung is also leading the “A.I.SYL” research project, which investigates the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on Austrian asylum procedures. This research project is funded by Zukunftsfond Steiermark. Since 2024, she is a speaker of the DVPW (Deutsche Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft) Working Group on Migration Politics and co-editor of the Springer series "Studien zur Integrations- und Migrationspolitik". 

Dr. Jung received her PhD in International Relations from the University of Sussex in 2021. Prior to coming to the University of Graz, she completed an MA (Political Science) at the Freie Universität Berlin and a BA (History and Sociology) at Goldsmiths. Recognitions include the ISA's Best Early Investigator Prize (Global Health Section, 2024), ISA’s Edward Said Essay Prize (2021), shortlisting for the Millennium Northedge Essay Prize (2021), a doctoral scholarship from SeNSS ESRC, a Visiting Fellowship at Rutgers University (2020), as well as departmental prizes and fellowships at the University of Sussex.